Access angular controller from directive using require - angularjs

Question

In a directive i want to require a controller but i get the error that the controller can't be found. I am sure it is a small thing or maybe it is not possible the way i want to do it.
angular.module('myApp', []);
angular.module('myApp').controller('GreetingController', ['$scope', function($scope) {
$scope.greeting = 'Hola!';
//some function here returning data
}]);
angular.module('myApp').directive('yoloswag', function() {
return {
require: ['^?ngModel', '^GreetingController'],
restrict: 'A',
scope: {
},
link: function(scope, element, attrs, controllers) {
var modelCtrl = controllers[0],
greetingsCtrl = controllers[1];
console.log(controllers)
}
};
});
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular.js/1.5.8/angular.min.js"></script>
<div ng-app="myApp">
<div ng-controller="GreetingController">
{{ greeting }}
<div yoloswag>test</div>
</div>
</div>
What am i doing wrong?
Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Your code does not having and dependency with your main module, that's why you are getting that error.
Your code should be the following
angular.module('myApp', [])
.controller('GreetingController', ['$scope', function($scope) {
$scope.greeting = 'Hola!';
//some function here returning data
}])
.directive('yoloswag', function() {
return {
require: ['^?ngModel', '^GreetingController'],
restrict: 'A',
scope: {
},
link: function(scope, element, attrs, controllers) {
var modelCtrl = controllers[0],
greetingsCtrl = controllers[1];
console.log(controllers)
}
};
});
or set a variable for main module then you can add controller and directive with the main module like,
var MainModule = angular.module('myApp', []);
MainModule.controller('GreetingController', ['$scope', function($scope) {
$scope.greeting = 'Hola!';
//some function here returning data
}]);
MainModule.directive('yoloswag', function() {
return {
require: ['^?ngModel', '^GreetingController'],
restrict: 'A',
scope: {
},
link: function(scope, element, attrs, controllers) {
var modelCtrl = controllers[0],
greetingsCtrl = controllers[1];
console.log(controllers)
}
};
});

Answer 2

You can use controller property of directive :
make sure don't update property in link function.
return {
restrict: 'A',
scope: {
},
controller : 'GreetingController',
link: function(scope, element, attrs) {
var modelCtrl = controllers[0],
greetingsCtrl = controllers[1];
console.log(controllers)
}
};